1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a telephone number change notification method and a telephone number change notification system and, in particular, to a telephone number change notification method and a telephone number change notification system for notifying a preselected user of a new telephone number when a telephone number is changed.
2. Description of the Related Art
In general, when a user changes a telephone number or an e-mail address of a communication terminal, such as a telephone, the user notifies his or her relatives and acquaintances to whom he or she needs to notify of a new telephone number or a new e-mail address (hereinafter collectively referred to as a “telephone number”) by using snail mail or e-mail. The calling party who received the notification can communicate with the user using the new telephone number without any problem.
If a calling party who does not know the new telephone number calls an old telephone number, a telephone directory assistance service in an exchange generally notifies the calling party of the new telephone number. Accordingly, even a calling party who does not receive the telephone number change notification can access the new telephone number.
However, a user may be forced to change a telephone number and an e-mail address to avoid malicious telephone solicitation, sales, or telephone harassment. Since the telephone directory assistance service notifies anyone of the new telephone number across the board against the user's intent, the telephone directory assistance service does not satisfy the user who desires to avoid unwanted calls.
To notify a person to whom a user wants to tell a new telephone number of the new telephone number, Japanese Unexamined Patent Application Publication No. 2004-23414 (hereinafter referred to as “Document 1”) discloses a technology in which a telephone directory management system includes a plurality of communication stations storing telephone directory data and a telephone directory data management server connected to the communication stations via a network. If a telephone number is changed, a user who changed the telephone number notifies other users identified by the user in advance of change information.
That is, the telephone directory data management server receives telephone directory data stored in each of the plurality of communication stations and writes the data to a telephone directory database. When the telephone number or the mail address of any communication station is changed, the telephone directory data management server searches for a communication station that stores the old telephone number based on the telephone directory database in order to notify the communication station of the change information. At that time, in the telephone directory database, communication stations that have to be notified are marked differently from communication stations that do not have to be notified in advance. The change notification is sent to only the communication stations that require the notification.
Additionally, Japanese Unexamined Patent Application Publication No. 2004-13891 (hereinafter referred to as “Document 2”) discloses a technology in which a user who wants to notify the mail address change (a registered user) registers his or her old mail address and new mail address to a database server. When another user (a search user) cannot communicate with the registered user using the old address, the search user searches the database server using the old address as a key. If the registered change information is hit, the search user inputs the address and name of the search user and a message as required to the database server. The database server then sends the input data from the search user to the new address of the registered user. Upon receiving the input data, the registered user determines whether the search user is a desired user to be notified of the new address based on the input data from the search user.
In the telephone directory management system disclosed in Document 1, a user who changes his or her telephone number sends change information to other users registered in advance. However, the telephone directory data management server requires a dedicated telephone directory database for storing telephone directory data stored in each communication station. Also, the telephone directory data management server requires a search operation for searching for a communication station to which change information is sent when access information about any communication station is changed. Furthermore, the telephone directory data management server cannot check whether the user to whom the telephone directory data management server sends the change information is a user with whom the user having registered the change information desires to communicate.
In the address change notification system disclosed in Document 2, the user having registered address change determines whether he or she notifies the search user of the address change based on the address and name input by the search user. However, if the address and name input by the search user are improperly used, a stranger knows the changed mail address. Thus, the personal information may be disclosed to unauthorized third parties.